I finished my quilt - binding

I finally got around to finishing my quilt at the weekend. After bumping the hexagon one up the list to get it completed in time to take it down to Mum L a couple of weeks ago mine sort of got put on hold. I was so close to having finished but I hadn’t attached the binding yet.

This weekend was a pretty lazy one for me really and very much needed. I had Friday off work which I spent doing my cross stitch all day and watching Disney movies as it was completely unbearably far too hot to do anything else. Adam even had to retreat from the kitchen while he was working to sit in the living room in front of the fan. I managed the majority of the day in my comfy chair up in my craft room but there was no way I was going to sit with a quilt on my lap sewing on binding!

Saturday was also a bit of a write off as we both had a bit too much to drink on Friday night so felt a little worse for wear on Saturday. We were giddy from actually having a dinner out I think. We found a food truck that had set up on our local pub car park selling poutine (my favourite Canadian dish and one that brings back so many memories), brought it home and ate it in the garden. The evening continued in a similar way - sitting out in the garden drinking and chatting with family (virtually) and started to get a little silly from our part.

Sunday was a much better day. It had rained on Saturday so had cooled down a lot (although I didn’t necessarily think so by the time I had walked to the post box and back!) so in the afternoon I set about attaching the binding to my quilt.

I followed a tutorial on Melanie Ham’s YouTube page about how to attach the binding by machine as I hate hand sewing. The first step was to cut my fabric into 2.5inch strips and iron a crease down the middle. Then to join the strips together on a diagonal as per the photo below.

As I had chosen this variegated fabric I tried to match up the most similar ends to each other to make the seams as invisible as possible. I think it worked out ok. Next was to attach the binding to the back of my quilt. I matched up the raw edges with the binding folded down the seam and attached it to the back. This time I looked at the positioning of my needle a little more closely and tried to make sure it was exactly 1/4 inch from the edge of my fabric as I would sew it.

The corners were the trickiest part but I soon got the hang of it. I just stopped sewing down the side I was on 1/4 inch from the end and then started along the new edge at the very end.

I put in a little extra step compared with when I attached the binding onto Mum L’s quilt and I ironed the seam flat when I had attached it to the back. I just folded it out ready to be rolled around to the front and ironed the seam I had just made.

Next was to fold the binding all the way around to the front and stitch it on.

As I had made sure that the first seam was 1/4 inch from the edge on the back I had to reposition the needle to make sure that it was just slightly further in on this side to try to make the seam run close to the edge on the front and just off the binding on the back.

Not too bad I don’t think. I had a couple of little wobbles on the way around where the stitching on the back wasn’t perhaps as straight as it should be. But for most of the way I got the binding sewing where I wanted it.

I am so pleased to have finally finished my first quilt. I can’t even work out how many years this has been in the making in some shape or form.

The back doesn’t look bad either.

I think I got this fabric the first time I went to the Fabric Guild with @quirkyhannah and started putting the patchwork together not long after. It was going to be the topping of a bench seat cover originally when I had my craft room in another room of the house and I wasn’t sure after I moved what it would become if anything. It sat around for a few years untouched but lockdown inspired me to actually get my sh*t together and get something done with it. The fabrics are so pretty it just seemed such a shame for them not to be used.

I am so happy with the final product and am going to be so happy snuggled up here in my craft room when the weather cools down. This looks like the perfect place to enjoy a good book or to get on with some more crafty projects that I have in the pipeline.